Alphatracks

David Kilpatrick at Photoclub Alpha is suggesting that the A100 is no longer being produced by Sony. He goes on to speculate that Sony may have exhausted the run of sensors used by the original Alpha SLR and couldn’t produce any more even if they desired to.

Is the A100 at the end of it’s life?

Kilpatrick doesn’t end there. He is of the opinion that Sony will introduce some sort of replacement for the A100 along with the forthcoming Advanced Amateur dSLR.

This ties in with two or my earlier posts. First I noted that the A100 was out of stock at the Sony Style website and wondered how Sony could run out of their only dSLR at a time that most would-be buyers were holding off until they saw what Sony would offer next. Secondly I posted about the Sony Alpha test-drive being offered at children’s sports event n certain parts of the USA. It sounds like a great program, but the target market doesn’t seem to match up with that of the future Advanced Amateur dSLR.

In Kilpatrick’s scenario, Sony will off the A100 and introduce a similar replacement, possibly with less features at a lower price point.

All along I wondered why Sony was targeting the upper end of the dSLR market while so much of the action was going on in the starter-SLR segment. I’m happy to see pro and semi-pro Alpha models in the pipeline, but I wondered where Sony’s D40 fighter was.

Reports are circulating that Nikon went from a distant second to a strong first in worldwide SLR sales, supplanting Canon in the number 1 slot. How did they do that? My guess is on the strength of the D40 and D40X models, which are aimed at those just entering the dSLR market. Even the higher-range digital Rebel models couldn’t compete with the D40 on price. It’s an easy sale: I can buy a genuine Nikon dLSR for five hundred bucks.

Sony planning A100 replacement?

Most of the attention on Sony’s new dSLRs has focused on the Advanced Amateur or Flagship pro models. Sony has shown us the mockups, so we know they are coming. If Kilpatrick is right, they have also been quietly at work on a starter SLR model that can offer an upgrade path for those moving up from a point and shoot camera.

You and I probably aren’t the target market for such a camera. If Sony does go this route, they will be aiming at those just getting their feet wet in the world of dSLR photography.

That doesn’t matter. Anything that increases the number of A-mount camera bodies out there is a good thing. It makes Sony more of a viable brand in the dSLR arena and makes the Alpha line more attractive for after-market lens, flash and accessory manufacturers. Even more importantly. it will help establish Sony as major dSLR brand in the minds of the consumers.

For myself, I’m still more interested in seeing what the Advanced Amateur model offers. If Kilpatrick is right, however, it is comforting to think that Sony will be covering all the bases.

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I’m sure this won’t apply to most Alphatracks readers, but if you shot Cord Industries film and slides in the 1970s, I suggest you check your media. Like now. Don’t even wait to finish reading this. If you have any valuable images on Cord film stock, you should dig them out and make sure those images are still intact.

If you were in to photography in any level in the seventies, you undoubtedly saw ads for Cord film products. You would be hard pressed to find a photo magazine from the era that didn’t have at least one Cord advertisement. They also advertised in newspapers, Sunday supplements, and anywhere else they could reach photo enthusiasts.

Cord: slides and negs from same roll

The offered free rolls of film in order to get film processing revenue. Many other film makes did the same thing, but Cord was unique. You sent an exposed roll of film in for processing and you got back both slides and negatives for each image.

This might sound quaint in this era of pixels and flash memory cards, but it was a big deal in the seventies. There was no electronic publishing in those days, so if you sold to magazines like I did, you had to provide them with transparencies (slides). Color prints or color negatives were useless to magazines of that timeframe. On the other hand, if you wanted to make a color print from a slide, you were likely to be disappointed. Kodak and other labs would make prints from slides, but the prints always seemed to have too much contrast. So you had to take your choice when you shot color: transparency film or negative film. You couldn’t mix and match.

The Cord secret: motion picture film adapted to 35mm cameras

Enter Cord Industries. The story I heard was they discovered that the major move studios wee literally throwing away short ends of film stock. Kodak and other manufacturers made a special “master” film. After a major movie had been edited and was ready for distribution, the studios would duplicate it onto a special master negative. once they had the master, they could make as many film “prints” as they needed to distribute to theaters. The master negative stock was identical to 35mm still camera film, complete with sprocket holes.

It was a clever idea. Film studios didn’t want to bother with all the short lengths of master film left over after duping the film. The master would fit into a 35mm camera and make useable negatives. Because it was designed to make distribution film prints, Cord could process the master like an ordinary still camera negative, then create a set of sides from the negative.

This interested me for two reasons. First, it would allow me to shoot transparencies for the magazines, while at the same time I could get much nicer prints if a client requested one. Even more importantly, when I sent slides out to publications, I was sending the original, irreplaceable image. If it was lost or damaged, there was no back up. With the Cord product, I would still have the negatives and could create another transparency — just like the studios when they made multiple films for distribution.

It sounded good in theory, but I soon found it was less than ideal. In the first place the film wasn’t designed for still cameras and didn’t offer the same detail as the Kodachome or Ektachrome slide films. It wasn’t horrible, but I didn’t feel the quality was as good as the true Kodak slide film.

The biggest drawback, however, was the time it took to get the slides and negs back from Cord. I could get same day service for Ektachome and Kodak would return my Kodachome slides back to me in 48 hours. With Cord, it usually took a week to ten days to get the slides back. I found that delay was unacceptable for a working photographer, so I stopped using their product.

That is probably a good thing. Last week, I was digging through some of my old film archives looking for some old negatives for a project i am working on. In the process, I happened on some of my old Cord slides and opened the box to refresh my memory about what was inside.

My Cord slides and negatives are fading fast!

I was shocked to discover that the film was in very bad shape. Most of the images have a strange pink cast and the slides appear to be fading. On some of them, the color saturation is nearly gone.

I thought that having the original negative would provide a solution to the deteriorating transparencies. When I checked the negs, however, I found they too appear to be fading. The Kodak and GAF slides I have from the same era appear to be in excellent shape. All of the Cord stuff is slowly turning to mush, indicating that I will have to get busy scanning or duping the original media before it is totally useless.

Fortunately, I didn’t shoot a huge amount of this stuff, probably less than a dozen 36 exposure rolls in all. Still, there are images I would hate to lose, either for sentimental reasons or because they still have commercial value. There are persons, places and things on that film that no longer exist. That makes those images valuable from a historical perspective, if nothing else.

I’m sure that a number of digital shooters are unconcerned about the fragile nature of celluloid media. Before you get too smug, read this story about the life expectancy of CD media. Or this one about how long a hard drive will last. Of course, I have owned both hard drives and CDs that have lasted a very long time, but I have also seen some failures.

I love shooting digital, but I am concerned about long-term storage of my digital images. Flakey hard drives and short life-span CDs could make my minor Cord problems seem really insignificant. Imagine losing thousands of irreplaceable images due to a faulty hard drive and bad back-up media.

Anyone know where I can find a cheap tape backup system?

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The dSLR world is suddenly bursting with news — Canon announced the EOS 40D, Nikon reveals both the D3 and D300 and Sony takes the wraps off their new IMX021 sensor.

Still no word on the future Sony Alpha SLRs, but the Nikon announcements may shed some light on future Sony development. Perhaps…perhaps not.

Probably of the biggest news is Nikon finally will offer a full-frame sensor in the new D3. Everyone was expecting this, and up until now, I had assumed that the D3 and the new Sony Alpha flagship would share the same sensor. I’m not so sure any longer.

Nikon Designed 12MP sensor

According to this article by Ron Galbraith, the D3 will use a sensor designed by Nikon. Galbraith also says that Nikon probably won’t reveal who will make the sensor.

Since Sony makes the sensor for almost all previous Nikon dSLRs, there is a good chance that they will also make the sensor for the D3 well. Would Nikon go elsewhere to find a manufacturer for their new sensor design? At this point, Nikon isn’t saying.

This invalidates my earlier assumption that the Alpha flagship and the D3 will automatically share the same sensor technology. If Sony doesn’t actually make the sensor for the D3, there is no chance they would buy a sensor from another manufacturer. Of course, only a handful of industry insiders really know what is brewing behind closed doors at Sony and Nikon. Would Nikon license their design for Sony to use? Would Sony pay Nikon for that privilege? Or will Sony prefer to develop full frame technology that they could then sell to other camera manufacturers — as well as use in their own cameras?

There could also be a problem in perceived value if the new Alpha Flagship actually offers less or the same amount of megapixels than the advanced amateur model. Most photographers realize that meagapixels aren’t the most important aspect of a digital camera’s stature. Still, there are cases when megapixels matter, and it does seem a little strange not to have MP boost in your flagship model. Canon’s top of the line full-frame dSLR currently offers 16mp. [Update 8/27/07: The Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III actually offers 21.1 MP] If the flagship weighs in at 12mp, that will hardly be a deal-breaker. It will still be an excellent, professional camera — it obviously will be every bit as capable as the professional level Nikon D3.

On the other hand, if the flagship could offer as many or more MP as the Canon, the perceived value of the camera would be that much greater. Sony has been largely snubbed by much of the mainstream press, who lavish an over-abundance of coverage on Nikon and Canon, tossing mere crumbs to the other dSLR brands. If Sony’s new flagship were to usurp the MP crown from Canon, it would be much harder for the press to ignore.

We’ll probably have to wait until Sony actually takes the wraps off the flagship model. Interestingly, Thom Hogan, a true expert in all things Nikon, starts his review of the D3 and D300 with the provocative title: Nikon D4 rumors start

He then, never mentions anything about the D4 or any rumor. Still it suggests that rumors are already circulating about a Nikon D4. Does this suggest a full frame Nikon with more MP (possibly sharing a new high MP Sony sensor) is coming? Or is only wishful thinking by Nikon fans disappointed that Canon still has an edge in megapixels?

Nikon D300 to use modified Sony sensor?

Meanwhile, Nikon also announced the 12MP D300 with an APS-C size sensor. Sounds like a likely candidate for the Sony IMX021. This is currently a hot topic on the dpreveiw Nikon forum. On his site, Thom Hogan seems to confirm that the D300 will use be Using a variant of Sony’s new CMOS sensor…

Not a real surprise, but it is interesting nevertheless. If Hogan’s comments are accurate, it appears that the D300 will use a modified version of the IMX021. How much the sensor will vary from the standard IMX021 is unclear. Obviously, we can expect that Sony’s own advanced amateur camera will display some differences to set it apart for the D300.

This also makes me wonder about the proposed naming scheme for Sony’s new hardware. I’ve heard numerous suggestions, although Sony has given no clues as to the names of the new models. One popular, but unconfirmed tale has the AA version carrying the name A200 while the Flagship will be the A300. Confusion ahead! Nikon calls their new 12mp model the D300 — will consumers then assume that an A200 is somehow less of a camera? Will they assume that the A300 and the D300 are more or less equals? Of course other rumors assign the AA model the title of A300 and indicate the Flagship will be known as the A500. Cosy, eh? Sony and Nikon each produce a similar camera, using basically the same sensor and both carry the 300 designation. Time will tell.

Sony has yet to reveal any more information about their future dSLR plans. The new Nikon models provide at least a hint of what is to come in the next several months.

Buckle your seat belts, everyone. It’s going to be wild ride!

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The press release we have have been waiting for (well, almost) is here. Sony has announced a brand new CMOS image sensor that has “heart of a new dSLR” written all over it.

The press release is short and sweet, but there are lots of juicy details if you read between the lines.

First the basics. The new sensor is an APS-C size, the same size as the Alpha A100. So the crop factor and digital lens coverage should be identical. So much for those rumors of a 14MP, 1.25 crop dSLR.

Sony Advanced Amateur dSLR: you’re looking at it’s sensor

But how can we know that this will be the sensor used in the forthcoming Advanced Amateur Alpha dSLR? Although Sony hasn’t said it aloud, let’s read between the lines shall we? Consider this statement from the press release:

“Sony will position “IMX021″ as a key device capable of generating new added value in the high-growth digital SLR camera market, actively promoting its use within Sony and externally.”

I highlighted the important text. First, Sony has said this sensor will be aimed at the dSLR market. More importantly, they are saying it will be used by Sony and also be supplied to other camera makers — most likely Nikon and Pentax.

So unless you expect Sony to use this sensor in the Alpha Flagship SLR, the only logical camera is the still unnamed Advanced Amateur model. Since I’m betting the Flagship will be full frame (or at least nearly full-frame), the only camera this could be used in by Sony is the AA model.

How fast will the new Advanced Amateur be?

So 12.47MP — a nice improvement over the A100’s 10.2MP. But that isn’t the end of the story. The press release says this about the sensor’s capture ability: “delivering an extremely high signal conversion speed (in all-pixel scan mode) of 10.39 frame/s (12 bit).”

A 12.5MP camera capable of delivering 10.4 frames a second? Bring it on!

Of course, it remains to be seen if Sony will produce a dSLR capable of cranking out that frame rate with full resolution raw files. Still it sounds very promising.

Sony serious about eliminating camera noise

Finally the release addresses noise: “The enhanced quality images generated by ‘IMX021′ are the result of its advanced noise cancelling [sic] features based on a unique circuit structure, its pixel array micro-fabrication technologies, and its cleaning and color-filtering capabilities …”

The A100 has been criticized as being noisy at higher ISO ranges. It offers great picture quality in the 100-400 ISO ranges, but many users (and reviewers) have been disappointed with the noise at higher ISOs. Sony seems to be emphasizing that the new sensor will produce much less noise, even though it packs more megapixels into sensor of the same relative size.

Of course the camera’s processor also plays a big part in the noise generated by a dSLR, so the sensor is not the only factor in digital camera noise. Hopefully, Sony has taken the A100 criticism to heart and will deliver a new dSLR that offers substantial high-ISO noise improvement.

You can read the entire Sony press release here:

It’s been a long wait. A very long wait. Does this new sensor signal an exciting new era in the world of Sony dSLRs?

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When Sony entered the dSLR field, Minolta A-Mount users were encouraged. Sony had the marketing resources and promotional budget to promote their camera hardware well beyond anything Minolta could attempt. Minolta had great cameras and lenses, but their advertising budget was crippled after losing the expensive Honeywell patent lawsuit. With Sony at the reigns, Minolta enthusiasts could expect the camera line to expand exponentially. At least that was the expectation.

Sony marketing fairly quiet about the A100

Sony’s marketing of the Alpha line has been rather luke warm at best. Even their ads in photo magazines has been low-key, just a small camera image and the slogan “Like no Other.” Very little copy explaining why the camera was like no other — or why someone should invest n a new Alpha. It seemed like the general press was generating more buzz about the A100 than Sony was.

All that may be about to change. Maybe the impending release of the future Sony dSLRS has something to do with it. Maybe Sony’s strategy was to get a foothold in the dSLR market but not actively promote the line until they has a solid, multi-tier product line to offer.

Two things indicate that Sony maybe ready to start promoting the Alpha line more aggressively.

Sony announces Alpha test-drive program in the USA

The first is a new Alpha Test-Drive promotion in the US. According to this story in picturebusinessmag.com Sony has started a program to let people actually test an A100 at various sporting events and tournaments in the US. There will be a manned informational kiosk and visitors will be able to leave their driver’s license and borrow an A100 to shoot the event. Then they can return to the kiosk and print their images.

According to PBM, Sony is “organizing and sponsoring a 15-week tour aimed at arming parents of young athletes with a camera that, as Sony explains, can capture pictures at lightning speed.”

The story goes on to say that Sony “will offer this unique experience at youth sports games in Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina.”

I think that’s great. This promotion could create a real impact, since Sony is actually getting their camera into potential users hands. When those people visit a big-box electronics store, they will be less inclined to allow sales people to steer them into another camera. They’ve actually shot with an A100, they know how it feels and how it operates. Even if they eventually buy another brand, they will at least consider the A100. That is excellent marketing strategy.

More free online photography resources from Sony

The second indicator of Sony’s interest in promoting the Alpha line is a new section of the Sony UK website. The new Take your photography to the Next Level flash presentation is a interesting multimedia learning experience. OK, I’m not convinced that the concept of “aperture” qualifies as an advanced topic. So what? The initial release is obviously slanted toward beginners. It’s still a step in the right direction. It could easily be expanded to include more advanced topics, and could help the Alpha get some recognition and respect. In the dSLR market, recognition and respect translate directly to sales.

If you’ve been paying attention, you probably noticed something a trifle odd about these promotions. Both of them are targeting new dSLR users — photographers upgrading from point and shoot cameras or people new to photography in general. Yet we are collectively waiting for Sony to announce their next new dSLR, which almost everyone expects to either be an advanced or pro level dSLR.

Who is Sony aiming for with these promotions?

Thats great, and serious Sony A-mount users are eagerly awaiting the new Alpha SLRs. But neither of the above promotions are aimed at advanced amateur or pro level photographers. Instead, they are targeting the first time dSLR buyers. There is nothing wrong with that, actually I applaud it. But what camera is Sony expecting to sell to these intro level photographers? Sony hasn’t said anything about the price of the new SLRs, but if the rumored specs are even half right, it is doubtful that Sony could offer these cameras at any where near the price of starter-SLRs offered by other manufacturers. That means either Sony will keep the A100 as it’s starter model or they have a true low-end dSLR planned in addition to the two semi-announced cameras we already know about. I speculated about this over a year ago in a post entitled “What if the A100 is Sony’s low-end dSLR?”

Sony can’t expect the new advanced models to compete against the basic, no-frills starter models from Nikon and Pentax. They need their own starter SLR. Will it be the A100, perhaps with a price reduction? Or will they roll out something brand new to sell to those soccer moms and dads?

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File this under “nothing new to see here folks, just keep going about your business.”

The big technology site Engadget has just posted a article about the rumored specs of the Alpha advanced amateur dSLR. Nothing that we haven’t heard before: 14MP, possibly a 1.2 crop, a 2.5-inch LCD and ISO to 3200. There have been lots of similar rumors around, so either everyone is just regurgitating the same rumor or these are real leaked specs.

Meanwhile David Kilpatrick at Photoclub Alpha has the new model pegged at a more reasonable 12MP.

Engadget also references this site, which has information supposedly gleaned from a French site (See what I mean about regurgitation?) that has a long list of supposed specs for the future Sony Alpha. Unfortunately, there is nothing about tethered shooting in there. Arrr!

Like all rumors, you need take all this stuff with a generous grain of salt. Don’t start making room for that shiny new 14mp, 1.2 crop Alpha until Sony actually announces it.

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What is this? As this is written (August 12, 2007) the SonyStyle website shows the A100 body-only configuration as “out of stock.” You can buy either of the Alpha kits with lenses, but the $699 body only package is not available.

This could mean almost anything. Maybe Sony had an influx of orders for the A100 body and decided to fill them before re-stocking their own online store. Or maybe the kits that include lenses are selling more briskly then anticipated, so Sony opted to divert all their new bodies to the packages that include lenses. Or maybe someone in the production department was asleep at the wheel and forgot to place a standing order for body only packages and they ran out.

I honestly don’t know. Maybe this happens all the time at SonyStyle, I am not in the habit of checking availability at the Sony site, so this could simply be a common just-in-time production scheme.

Is Sony trying to play Apple’s game?

On the other hand, I’ve already compared Sony’s secrecy over their future dSLRs to Apples Inc.’s extreme cloaking of their future products. Apple users have to read tea-leaves, put their ear against a railroad track and consult the magic-8 ball just to have any clue about Apple’s next plans. One sure-fire indication that Apple is brewing up something in the near future is that various products become out-of-stock at the Apple store. When they are ready to release some new exciting product, Apple will often allow the older products to become depleted, rather than building up a stockpile of merchandise that won’t sell as well when the new stuff appears.

Could Sony be playing this game with the A100? Although I haven’t seen sales figures, it seems likely that sales of the A100 have fallen flat recently. Not because of lack of demand — just the opposite.

New Sony dSLRs are coming…Soon?

Everyone knows the new Sony dSLRs are coming — we just don’t know when or at what price or what the feature set will be. So many would-be A100 buyers are holding-off to see what Sony will offer next. In such a climate, how could Sony’s own website run out of stock on their premier digital camera?

Could Sony have ramped-up production of the new Advanced Amateur or Flagship models, causing stocks of the A100 to run dry? Does this mean Sony will at long last make an announcement and start shipping one of the new cameras?

Expect the A100 to remain in production

This doesn’t mean the A100 is about to be replaced. Both of the new models we know about appear to be a couple steps above the A100. If they were to totally stop production of the A100 that would leave a huge gap in their product line as they would have nothing to complete with against the inexpensive low-end dSLRS from other manufacturers.
So unless Sony is secretly planning a third new model to compete ln the starter dSLR segment, they will need the A100 to have a semi-complete model lineup for the immediate future.

So maybe that out-of-stock message means just that, that SonyStyle is just temporarily out of stock on the A100. On the other hand, it doesn’t take much imagination to conjure up a situation where Sony needs to temporarily stop production of the A100 to divert employees, parts and manufacturing facilities to assemble the first batch of the all new cameras. Once they have a solid stockpile of the new units. they can then resume production of the A100.

Maybe. With my ear against the track, I predict we are very close. Very close indeed. Maybe…

SonyStyle A100 body-only page

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Hey! Need a user manual for your SRT101? Or maybe for an old XG-M? Your father in-law gave you his old Maxxum 800si, but you’re unsure how to use it? Look no further than the original source.

I get lots of questions from users asking about manuals. “Where can I get a manual for my Minolta (insert camera model here) ? Since almost any Minolta you acquire will be pre-owned, there is a good chance it will be missing that all important manual.

Many people don’t realize that Konica-Minolta still maintains an excellent collection of original user manuals at the KM support site. Even though KM has exited the camera manufacturing business, they haven’t taken their manuals and software offline. Thus, as this is written (August 2007), you can still find downloadable manuals for almost all of KM’s digital cameras, as well as the majority of AF models. If you are lucky, you will even find a manual for your forty year old manual-focus SLR at the site.

The downloads are free, so if you need a manual for any Minolta camera, scanner, printer, etc. this is the first place to look.

Of course there is always the chance this resource might disappear at some point, and not every Minolta model is represented. If you can’t locate what you need at the KM site, the following sites offer various collections of user manuals.

http://www.vikenk.com/minolta_manual.htm

A fairly comprehensive collection of user manuals covering the Maxxum A-mount and the earlier Minolta manual cameras. There are also some accessory manuals. Most of the manuals are available for free download, although to conserve bandwidth the site requires you to request some of the more obscure items. Viken also sells some Minolta service manuals

http://www.geocities.com/eskoufos/fmm.html

Another great Minolta manual collection. I have used this site in the past and found everything I was looking for. The site offers auto and manual SLR users guides, as well as rangefinders, individual lens manuals, even some free service manuals.,

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/repairmanuals.html

Site offers free service materials, including four pages of SRT101 disassembly drawings.

http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Manuals.htm

In addition to tons of information about the Minolta manual focus cameras, the Rokkor Files also offers a large selection of scanned Minolta instructions and guides. You can download the PDFs for free, but Andy also has a number of original paper factory manuals for sale.

http://www.ephotozine.com/equipment/manuals/Minolta/64

Lots of scanned manuals covering scanners, flash guns, lenses and of course, cameras.

http://www.photobooksonline.com/books/userbk12.html

The manuals on this site aren’t free, but you’ll find lots of stuff that you won’t see anywhere else. Instead of online PDFs, this site offers reprints of the original paper manuals. They have a large collection, some of it predating the Minolta SLRs, including Autocords and folding Minoltas.

http://www.camerabooks.com/category.aspx?categoryID=1187

Another site selling original instruction manuals. Obviously, the available manuals will vary.

http://www.micro-tools.com/pdf/Minolta/index.html

Great site for free parts manuals. It covers mostly the Konica-Minolta digital stuff, although I did see the Maxxum 5, 7 and 9 film SLRs listed. Sorry, the Maxxum 5D and 7D don’t appear to be available here.

http://www.retrevo.com/samples/Konica-Minolta-manuals.html

This site focuses on electronics, and as such offers lots of printer and scanner manuals. You will find most of the Dimage series camera manuals as well.

Maxxum Dynax AF Lens Repair Manual CD

Pete Ganzel is the original Minolta hacker — he is responsible for a number of incredible Minolta upgrades and mods. Ganzel sells a CD entitled the Minolta Maxxum Dynax AF Lens Service Repair Manual Mini CD, which covers most of the popular Minolta a-mount lenses. The $24.00 CD features 693 pages of information along with hi-res exploded parts diagrams. A must it you are into repairing or modding you Minolta AF lenses.

http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/830435

A site selling a download of a 190 page service manual for the X-700. I haven’t seen it, but if i had a sick X700, I would consider it.

This is only a sampling, but I hope it helps those looking for information on their old, out-of-production cameras. If you know of any other manual sites that shoul be listed here, leave a comment so I can add it to the list.

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At last there is some word from Sony on their new dSLRs. While it is not very satisfying for those of us thirsting for information on the future Sony dSLRs –at least it is something.

A few weeks ago, Rick Clancy, a Sony employee for more than seventeen years, started the all-new Sony Electronics blog. As the name implies, it is not a blog dedicated to the Alpha cameras or even digital cameras in general. Instead, Clancy will be blogging on all Sony products — and that will naturally include the Alpha dSLRs.

This is great news, because it means there finally a way for US based photographers to communicate (somewhat) with Sony. Just as importantly, the blog should be a source of semi-official information about Sony cameras, lenses an accessories.

Sony Alpha users have needed something like this for a long time. Relying on rumors is never a wise idea, but until now, Sony has declined to provide any information on the next phase of the digital Alphas. This has led to some over-the-top rumors, including one so-called writer who recently announced that Sony was abandoning the dSLR market. No official word, no reference to any source — just a bald statement that Sony was closing the door on their SLR plans. Of course he couldn’t name a source, because this is pure fiction. Sony has no intention of leaving the dSLR market, but with no official word from Sony on when the new bodies will ship, people are taking it upon themselves to make up whatever stories they can come up with. Another recent rumor making the rounds is that Sony has recalled all their lenses from dealers. Again, it is untrue, but it has been repeated in several online forums.

Which is why we need something like Clancy’s blog. When you let a rumors like these spread unchecked, a lot of people start to believe they are true. Until now, however, Sony has stood silent, providing no details, ignoring the rumors, blissfully going about their plans seemingly unconcerned about customer input.

On the August 4th edition of his blog, however, Clancy invited Mark Weir, the Senior Technology and Marketing manager for Alpha and Cyber-shot digital cameras to post on the blog. You can read the Response to Alpha DSLR Comments yourself, but I felt it important to echo several of things Weir had to say.

Sony is “sensitive to the voices of Minolta users”

Weir says “We are listening to the voice of our customers through this blog as well as other user forums on photo enthusiast sites. We are particularly sensitive to the voices of Minolta users as we look forward to their acceptance of Alpha as a strong continuation of Minolta’s prestigious heritage.”

You have to read between the lines to glean much information about the future Alpha dSLRs, but Weir does have this to say: “I want to assure you that the models are on schedule and that we are dedicated to fulfilling your high expectations for the Alpha system.”

I know it isn’t much. But it comes at the same time that some irresponsible blogger posted a unfounded entry entitled “Sony bails out of the dSLR market.” I won’t link to the post, because I don’t want to send any traffic to a loser who would post garbage information with no truth behind it. Yet, while the post has no basis in fact, it was picked up by several search engines. At least one other blog has already linked to it — strengthening the perception in some people’s minds that the Alpha is history.

Sony is still dedicated to the dSLR category

Thankfully, we have Weir’s remarks to indicate that this is far from the case — that the future Alpha models are on track and that “these new models demonstrate our long-term dedication to enthusiast photographers and the Digital SLR category.”

About the fictious lens recall, Weir says “There’s no truth to this – Sony is committed to the Alpha DSLR system and its expansion – cameras, lenses and accessories and the Minolta heritage which they share.”

Weir: “…it won’t be much longer!”

Weir concludes his remarks with the statement “Thanks for your confidence and patience- it won’t be much longer!”

I am confident that a year from now, the Alpha line will be on a much stronger footing. Actually, all of this gloom and doom talk about the future of the Sony dSLRs reminds me of one of Sony’s rivals. You may of heard of the company — Apple Computers, now known simply as Apple, Inc. For years, Apple users had to endure a stream of unfounded rumors that the company was going out of business. It got so bad that one Apple web site complied the “Apple Deathwatch” — a list of magazine articles and online opinion pieces explaining how Apple could no longer survive. According to the folks at the Mac Observer, “Apple Has Been Declared Dead 52 Times [by media experts] Since April, 1995.” The latest entry to the list dates back to 2006 — apparently the folks behind the rumors realize that no one is going to buy their stories with the Mac increasing in marketshare, the iPod continuing to defy all challengers and the new iPhone frenzy. Apple users knew all along that Apple wasn’t going anywhere, but those rumors used to crop up on a continual basis.

What has this to do with the Sony Alpha? The same sort of short-sighted blow-hards who continually tried to spread Apple’s obituary in the media are now focusing their attention on the Alpha. Until Sony steps up to prove them wrong, they will insinuate that the Alpha has failed to meet Sony’s expectations. The Alpha, they will tell anyone who will listen, is dead.

Nonsense? Of course. But the voices of reason have been drowned out by the gloom and doom of these muckrakers. Until now, trying to bury these rumors was a case of “my word is a good as yours” since Sony was mostly silent about the future. Now thanks to the semi-official Sony Electronics blog, we now have Mark Weir’s statements to use as ammunition against the ill-informed rumors running wild.

Thanks, Mr. Clancy!

Read the Sony Electronics Blog here!

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